On the 4th
by kaida-amarante
Summary: Every 4th of July, England goes out and drowns all his pain and sorrows in alcohol. One year, his older brothers get sick of it and go to America's house to "talk" to him about what's been going on. Slight UsUk, but could be considered friendship


**AN: It was really fun to write out the characters of Alistair, Connor, and Haydn. I'm probably going to do more stuff with them but change the names and maybe personalities a bit. I like to think that they really care about Arthur and try to protect him, which is the basis of this fic. I'm sorry this was posted in October, but I actually did start working on it in July. I just got preoccupied. Anyway, enjoy! I don't own Arthur or Alfred by the way!**

Alistair Kendric slowly opened his front door and stared down at the blonde leaning against the entranceway. "Eh, Arthur? What are you doing here? You never come to visit." However, one look at the date answered his question. It was the 4th of July. Which meant that his younger brother had gone out and gotten drunk again and somehow stumbled to the Scot's house.

This was why the redhead hates the 4th of July. Sure, he acted like he hated the guy and all, but Arthur was still his younger brother and he still cared about the blonde and wanted to protect him as much as he could without making Arthur suspicious of his motives. With a sigh, Alistair dragged the unconscious blonde into his house and laid him on the couch before grabbing his cell phone and pressing 1 on speed dial.

"Hey there, Ali! What's up?" Alistair smiled at the Irish accent and stupid nickname voiced from the other line.

"Connor, guess who just showed up on my doorstep drunk as fuck."

"Arthur's airlocked again?"

"Yeah. I know this happens every year, but this is the first time he's come to my house. This has gone a bit too far, agree?"

"I agree." The other voice became suddenly serious, very different from his normal self. "Listen, I'm here with Haydn right now. The two of us are going to go have a talk with America. You feel like taking care of a drunk Arthur by yourself?"

"Hell no."

"Then pack a bag and drag him with you. The two of us will meet you at your house in a little bit."

The two said their goodbyes and hung up. Alistair turned and walked over to Arthur, still sleeping on his couch, kneeling down and studying the Briton's face. "You reek of booze, you damn alkie." But even though his words were harsh, it was the tear streaks on the blonde's pale face that made him angry, in fact, they just about pissed him off. But there was nothing he could do about it here, so instead he walked to his room and packed a bag of clothes and other necessities, throwing in some clothes about Arthur's size before walking back downstairs as there was a knock on his front door. He opened it and smiled into the faces of his other two younger brothers, Connor O'Shea and Haydn Morgen.

Connor smiled back brightly and grabbed Alistair in a tight hug. "Hey there, Ali! Nice to see ya! It's been a while!"

Alistair greeted him and turned to Haydn, who was smiling softly, trying to betray the worry in his spring green eyes. "Before you ask, he's asleep on the couch. Don't worry so much, Haydn." As the blonde nodded and walked into the living room to check on his younger brother, Alistair turned back to Connor, chuckling slightly. "He always says he hates Artie, but when it comes down to it, those two are pretty close, huh?"

"Alistair." The Scotsman's eyes widened when his Irish brother looked up at him with determination, using his full name, which he never did. "I'm going to kick seven bells of shit out of that American bastard when we see him. It seems like he's gotten worse! I mean, he was pretty bad at the beginning, but then he seemed to get better and now…he's almost as bad as before." Connor lowered his spring colored eyes to the ground beneath him. "He's going to end up dying because of the alcohol if this keeps up!"

Both redheads sighed in unison. "Haydn, grab Arthur and let's get out of here."

What a surprise it was to Alfred when in the middle of his party, two redheaded men burst in and stormed up to him, anger on their faces. He stared into the emerald eyes of the one that looked older (around 25 or so) and was suddenly reminded of Arthur. He'd need to call the blonde soon and make sure he was doing alright…

"Are you America?" Alfred stared at the one with emerald eyes as he spoke, his voice thick with an accent Alfred was sure he could place.

"Yup! Alfred F. Jones at your service!" His thoughts on Arthur instead of what was going on, he smiled at the two, but it wasn't as bright as usual.

He watched, confused, as the two looked at each other, the determination in their eyes growing stronger as they faced him again, their faces scaring him. "Then you're coming with us."

"You bastard! Do you even know what this day does to Arthur? And what the hell? You never even try making him feel better even though it's your fault! Even though you're such a bastard that you probably don't even care! I hate guys like you!" Alfred grimaced as he was pushed against a wall and held there by the younger looking of the two redheads.

The other chuckled darkly and put his hand on the younger one's shoulder. "Now, now, Connor, you didn't even let him explain himself. And its good manners to introduce yourself before starting an argument, correct? We are gentlemen after all." He smiled up at Alfred, his face dark and intimidating. "My name is Alistair Kendric and this is my younger brother Connor O'Shea. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Alfred."

Alfred stared at Connor and Alistair angrily, biting his lip hard enough to make it bleed. "What does this have to do with Arthur? Why the hell do you care? This is between me and him!" His face was suddenly stinging and he stared with shock at the two redheads. Alistair's face had turned even darker and he held his hand still where it had stopped after slapping Alfred, and Connor was staring up at the American with tears in his eyes and shock on his face.

"It's not just between you and Arthur when he shows up on my doorstep drunk as fuck still crying even though he's out cold!" Alistair yelled the words, his eyes filling with anger. "And who's fault do you think that is, you git? Because it's yours! It's all your fault! Connor…you said that you wanted to kick seven bells of shit out of him…now I give you permission."

However it was right when Connor raised his fist that the door to the dark room they were in swung open and Arthur himself stumbled in, holding his head with one hand and keeping himself steady with the other. "What's with all the yelling, you idiots? I have a massive headache here, you know and…huh? Where are we?" Alistair turned to face him, pasting a smile on his face as Alfred felt Connor tense before letting go of him and dropping his fist, also turning to Arthur with a brighter smile. "A-Al…fred? Wh-what's…going on…?"

Alistair sighed and dropped his smile as Haydn walked in, his blonde hair messy from running after Arthur (since he was in the bathroom when Arthur woke up and ran off.) "Artie, nice to see you're finally awake. Anyway, to answer your question of where we are…we're over at America's house."

"Wh-Why?"

Alistair's face went dark again. "To kick his ass into next millennium."

Arthur's emerald eyes widened and he went pale at the words. "Huh? But…"

"Do you still not understand? Think about what the hell you've been doing to yourself every year on this day! Do you really expect us to just stand by and watch? These alcohol problems you have are gonna end up killing you some day! Probably soon! And it's all because this bastard betrayed and abandoned you!" Connor screamed the words as tears spilled down at his pale cheeks from his light green eyes that were closed tightly. "Artie…please! I need to do something about this! I hate seeing you like this! Please! Please!"

"Betrayed…? Abandoned…? You're wrong! It wasn't so that I could hurt him…it was what was best for my people!" Alfred stared at the two redheads in desperation. "You have to believe me! I'd never hurt him just because I wanted to…but it was necessary!"

"Just shut the hell up! No matter how 'necessary' it was, you still hurt him more than anyone else ever has! Do you know exactly how hard it is for the three of us to see him nearly kill himself every year because of what you did?" Alistair and Connor stared in shock as Haydn snapped and started screaming his heart out at Alfred, his spring-colored eyes filled with anger like the American had never seen before. "God damn you're a bloody ignorant git, aren't you? Alla i ddim sefyll bastardiaid ddwl fel chi!"

"Uh oh...you're in for it now! You even pissed Haydn off! That's hard to do! And now he's even cussing in his native tounge..." Alistair smirked and looked over to Alfred. "Hey, let me teach you something. Don't piss us off. Especially when it has to do with Arthur!"

Alfred snarled and looked back to Alistar from where he had been focusing on Haydn. "I don't even know who the hell you guys are, let alone why you're getting so protective over Arthur for no reason!"

Those words were rewarded by another slap from Alistair and sharp glares from Haydn and Connor. "No reason? Our younger brother is drowning himself in alcohol and will probably end up killing himself one of these days because of you, and you say there's no reason for us to be protective?" Alistair's voice was cold.

"Alistair! Come on, it's time to stop this! Please!" Arthur took a step forward, toward his brothers, his voice cracking with desperation as he cried.

"Artie, stay out of this..."

"How can I?"

"Please..."

Arthur flinched visibly at his brother's pleading voice. "Th-That's not fair..."

"Sure it is, Artie. All's fair in love and war after all."

"B-Brother...? Arthur...is your brother...?" Alistiar turned toward Alfred's voice, his emerald eyes cold. "Then there's definitely no reason for you to be protective! Almost every single time I see him with bruises, bandages, or practically any injures, he tells me it was one of his brothers! If you guys do that to him, why in the world should you protect him?"

Connor then hit Alfred in the stomach, making the American double over. "We do that to make him stronger, so he can withstand more and knows not to give in. It's all to help him! Don't act like you understand! Everything we do is for Arthur! It's always been that way!" Connor closed his eyes and backed away, tears rolling down his face. Alistair put a hand on the redhead's shoulder and leaned forward whispering something in his ear. Connor's spring green eyes widened for a moment before he nodded and walked towards Arthur.

That left Alistair and Alfred standing still and staring at each other on one side of the room, Haydn a bit behind Alistair, and Connor and Arthur now by the door on the oppposite side of the room than the two men at a standstill. Alfred grit his teeth and looked around, trying to find a way out of this situation when his eyes fell on Arthur. "Why aren't you doing anything? I thought you cared about me, Arthur? So why aren't you helping me?"

"Don't piss me off more than I already am, Kid. You really don't want to deal with the three of us when we're pissed. Especially not when it's about our younger brother." Alistair stepped forward, his face menacing. "So find a way to fix our problem here."

Haydn slowly took a step forward, followed by another and another until he was standing at his eldest brother's side. "Ali...A allaf ei ladd eto? Oherwydd ei fod yn wir yn fy ngwneud i'n wallgof." Arthur's face visibly paled at the words.

A dark chuckled escaped the older boy as he glanced at the blonde. "Not quite yet, Haydn, But soon."

"No! Please, don't….just stop doing this, please! I…I'll do anything! I'll even stop drinking on the fourth! Just stop this!" Arthur's words made everybody's eyes widen as the all turned to stare in disbelief at the crying boy.

Alistair chuckled again, a bit lighter this time as he patted Haydn on the back. "Sorry, but it looks like you're going to have to take your anger out on something else." The blonde nodded, averting his gaze to the ground. Connor laughed uneasily and fell backward against the wall, his uneasy laughter turning quickly hysterical. "Well, we accomplished what we came here to do, I think we can go home now…"

The redhead has just started walking away when a hand grabbed his arm. He turned, fist ready to hit Alfred if he tried anything, but the look on the American's face left him speechless. Sadness, worry…"If this is what's best for him…but, please, take care of him!"

The Scotsman smiled softly and put his hand on Alfred's head, smiling into those blue eyes. "I always have and always will."

The American smiled softly at that and left the room.

"Alistair…" The named man turned toward Arthur. "We need to have a talk about this."

"And we will. After we get you home and have you rest up, okay?" With this, Alistair smiled and held his hand out to the blonde, who latched onto his arm.

Thank goodness they'd never have to do this again.


End file.
